[MusicallyInspired]

Something nobody has been considering here is maybe the adventure genre can't "evolve" anymore. Yes it evolved (mostly for the better) passed the text parser into point & click and story became more centered, focused, and prominent. But the puzzles were all still there in full force as they ever were. And they were done better ALONG WITH the story. I really do think the traditional adventure games had the best combination of story and puzzles ever. I don't think you can possibly make story more prevalent in adventures than they already were in the 90s. Think about Telltale's position here. They're not trying to advance adventures into having more story, even though that's what they say. The kind of story they're trying to inject into adventure games is a "cinematic style story". Cinematic by its very nature is on-rails. You're not supposed to be able to explore. You're supposed to go exactly where the writer/director/designer wants you to go. And that, by its very nature, clashes completely with the very definition of the word "adventure", which is all about discovery, exploration, and experimentation.

I don't believe it's possible to "evolve" adventures because any "evolution" would turn them into something they're inherently not. Maybe adventures reached their peak and can't get any "better". I find that term demeaning to the genre, honestly, considering how those who coined it explain their alternatives to it. Adventures have made progress (some consider it bad progress but most consider it good, I think), but I really don't think that adventure games can get any "better" without sacrificing too much of what adventures mean to too many people. It ceases to be "adventure" and becomes something else entirely. And this has happened with many genres. And that's fine. RPGs have split off from adventures and even flirted with FPS's in the case of Fallout, The Elder Scrolls, and other games like that. But neither are "Adventure Games". I think people confuse the term "adventure" with the genre "Adventure". They are two different things. Lots of games have "adventure" in them but not "Adventure". I don't think you can explain gameplay away sometimes by using one term in place of the other.

Or maybe Telltale just aren't good at making puzzles, or find them too tiring or time consuming and just want to get away from them altogether to focus on their (only, it seems) talent: telling stories. Remember, these are the same guys who said that walking between screens was boring and should be removed from the game (Jurassic Park). How much more cinematic can you get??

I'm not a Telltale fan anymore because I thought they were a developer that designed Adventure Games. They aren't. And perhaps never were. Certainly never intended to be. They make "Cinematic Games". To them, the difference is non-existent most of the time, it seems. Yet, they acknowledge it by saying things like "how can we move the genre away from a puzzle-gameplay experience". Here's a hint: you CAN'T! It's what they ARE! Story and puzzle. You can't separate them. In my opinion, you should at least tell it how it is and stop fooling people into believing that you still actually do something that you're not, because they certainly don't. I wish they'd just come out and say that they don't make and don't want to make Adventure Games.

Telltale confuses me. And the more I read comments like this from them the more I feel cheated and used as a fan to ride on and live off the cash-flow and fame. All until they move off to what they really wanted to do all along, which barely shares any resemblance to Adventure Games. The only thing that links them together is story. And that seems to be their one true talent. Tell me I'm wrong. They didn't add more story and remove puzzles, they just removed puzzles. The story just got close-up camera angles, lots and lots of dialogue, and automatic non-interactive sequences added to it.